The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread

This is a discussion on The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread within Motorbikes, part of the BHP India category; Originally Posted by VW2010
The second video is more about catching up with Kar. I would have hit around 140 ...

The second video is more about catching up with Kar. I would have hit around 140 i think.

With all due respect and strictly no offense but apparently you have the money to buy a cam and a duke 390 but not a decent pair of gloves or a standard riding jacket.

Firstly, this forum has strict rules against posting illegal speeds on public roads. Secondly it is considered suicide to do those kind of speeds with no gloves, no jacket and a no full face one piece helmet. Humble request to please keep up the integrity of bikers on this forum.

Been wanting to write here on the 390, for some time, but was waiting to add some kilometers.

I own a 2012 TBTS, which took me to Ladakh in 2013, September. Just loved the bike. But my rider group upgraded themselves to Bonnies, an odd Harley or a Tiger thrown in. This meant that I got left behind on open roads and would be running my bike out of breath to keep up. Hence was forced to consider upgrading. Almost bought a second hand Bandit for 10 lakhs. But a wise friend intervened and nudged me towards the 390.

Since most things have been already discussed, I will just share a couple of snippets on my experience with the bike:

Even below 5000 RPM (initial run in period), if I would be in the 3rd or 4th line in the traffic, at a signal, I would end up being right ahead of everyone, by the time I had managed to shift to 4th. (Very quick by my TBTS standards). Since the TBTS produces max power at 4400 RPM, it took me time to get accustomed to the RPM range of the Duke. At 6000 RPM the bike is at triple digits and one is wondering what 10,000+ RPM will see you doing!

After the initial run in, I took it for a group ride with the much bigger Bonnies and Tiger. The bike surprised me but shocked the Bonnies. On the out skirts of the city (low traffic), every time they sped off, the Duke would overtake and be forced to slow down, so that they (the Bonnies) could catch up.
On completely open roads, the Bonnies can go up to 160, easily, and beyond (185+), (I did not say that they did!), which means they would eventually cream the Duke in a straight run (above 140).

But what I also have experienced is that 160 kmph on a bike is difficult to hold on to, for anything beyond a minute (you would have covered more than 2 Km by then), before you slow down for a crossing, village, a truck in the right most lane, the odd pig, buffalo or human. Which would bring you to say, 140 Kmph.

Since high speeds cannot be mentioned to have been attained, suffice to say that the Bonnies found it a challenge to stay ahead of the Duke in most circumstances, and could not easily out accelerate it, unless they saw a wide open stretch extending into a kilometer.

The Duke handles better (at least when leaning, even a bit) and the ABS helps the rider control his entry into traffic, and on the exit, the acceleration combined with the flickability helps you get out faster on the other side. So twice I was over taken, on wide, open roads, but stayed on their wing, and overtook them as we maneouvered through some mid and top lane traffic. One Bonnie, slightly flustered, tried to overtake me in top gear, but could not believe that I hung on to my lead by slipping a gear and pushing the bike to 10000+ rpm.

Bottom Line: My Bonnie friends were all praise for the Duke and the discussion over breakfast was that whenever the 690 is launched, they may consider buying it (an upgrade?!!).

So my experience with the KTM is that it is too much bike for the price that one gets it at, and it has been a very satisfying ownership.

Last edited by Insearch : 15th September 2014 at 15:17.
Reason: Language, as always!

That's a wonderful real life description of the 390's true prowess in mixed-bike rides Anurag. So glad to see another Bulleteer taking to the Duke like the proverbial duck to water. I predicted this before the 200 was launched in the market. Would now take the liberty of saying I told you so!

Is there some solution that is out there? Some setting? Some replacement? Some fix retrofitted by the company?

This is JUST the same as the test bike I had more than 16 months ago. Very disappointing.

The 200's gearbox is soft snick-snick butter in comparison to this ugly clunk clunk.

Yes Doc, the bike upshifts in a clunky manner and sometime it is very irritating. After the "general check up" during the sprocket and chain replacement, it seems to have got worse. Missing gears sometimes. The gear indicator on the MID refuses to display the gear and only after some tug of war by upshifting or downshifting, the gear is displayed. I had opted for a SVC near to my home as I badly needed the sprocket replacement after the Ladakh trip. I need to take my stead to the "woriginal" SVC where it used to be pampered and have another checkup. Will ask the SA if there is any solution for this.
The N-1 is always like hitting a nail into the coffin. But others seem to be not so harsh.

Those who are reporting clunky shifts , do you mean it gets clunky with passage of kilometers or clunky as in the normal characteristic from day 1. And if you have experience with a 4 speed cast iron enfield , is it clunkier ?

Those who are reporting clunky shifts , do you mean it gets clunky with passage of kilometers or clunky as in the normal characteristic from day 1. And if you have experience with a 4 speed cast iron enfield , is it clunkier ?

It is there since day 1. Did not get progressive, but sometimes gets annoying especially at traffic lights or when someone instigates with some monkey antics and you decide to pay them back.

Those who are reporting clunky shifts , do you mean it gets clunky with passage of kilometers or clunky as in the normal characteristic from day 1. And if you have experience with a 4 speed cast iron enfield , is it clunkier ?

I had a four speed CI for seven years. This is no way clunky compared to that if you shift at the right revs.